Oatesdeal.

New Head Coach, Adam Oates.

The wait is over my friends. As of this afternoon, the Washington Capitals have a new head coach. And once again it is a familiar face to any long time Caps fan. Adam Oates, former Cap himself he played 19 years in the league. Most recently he was an assistant coach for the Devils and is credited for helping them get into the finals this year.

I don't know a whole lot about him if I should speak the truth. While I know him as a Cap at the same time my fandom didn't start until one of this last season's with the team in 02'. So my knowledge of him is very limited. But I will say it seems as though now and days, if you want to be a head coach for this team, you must have prior Cap experience as this is now the second coach in a row who has been a former player of ours. Because of my limited knowledge I can not say whether this is a good move for us. Then again I can't say its a bad move either. I hear he is a offensive minded sort of guy, which is good if your a player named Ovi, who already seems to be pretty pumped to have Oates, and had already called to talk to him. And its good because well offensive wasn't the most important thing under the wings of Hunter. Then again, we saw what being an offensive team did to us under Bruce.

And we all know how that ended.

But on the other hand, I am hearing he has defensive on mind as well. So in that sense, I think it would be good because you need a little bit of both if you want to make it farther than the first round. Of course this is just my opinion, so take it or leave it. I do not claim to be a professional analyst.  And because of this, what I am saying could all be thrown out the window mid way through next season, should there be a season that is.

I do know this, it seems lately, in the past couple of seasons we have gone from a true contender to, well we will have to wait and see what happens. Hope this system, under this coach works out. Its a rebuilding period. Don't expect to win every game, or to have things click all of a sudden. And while this is great and all..At the same time, its getting kind of old. I hate the whole well we will see how things go. Just hold on. Give us some time.

But we aren't getting any younger. Ovi is no longer that fresh faced kid he once was. Backstrom, Laich, Green and Semin (though I doubt he will be around past Sunday much less next season) well they aren't the young guns anymore.

We don't need a system based upon we will wait and see. We need a system, and a coach that works. And gets the results that we all know we are capable of. That we are expecting. But is Oates really the answer?

Well time will tell I suppose.

And as a Caps fan, that's the only thing that is guaranteed.